The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Bendix brake booster vs. electric brake booster vs. power brakes

I still, after one year of owning my truck, have no brakes. I visit many sites on the internet with different products and would like some advice on them. Thank you much in advance, for it seems if I knew 10% of what some of you know, I would be nearing completion of my project, not just beginning.

Anyway, since my vaccuum system is hashed (probably would only be a matter of replacing a few old, cracked hoses) I want to try to modernize a little.

On www.chevyduty.com, in their catalog they advertize a power brake booster master cylinder that bolts right into the place the old one did. It is on page 63-64 of their catalog if you download it.

Next, on www.abspowerbrake.com, they have an electric high power master cylinder. Looks like they have good stuff, but the scary thing is they don't list prices!!

Anyway...help!!? I would like to actually start driving it, rather than driving it up and down the alfalfa fields in the summer!

There are many different choices.
One would be rebuild stock, the brakes really are quite good. IF you don't change the rear axle for a faster one then you won't be going fast any how, and should be fine with a stock system.

If you want to upgrade to a twin circuit system then a kit like sold by Chevy Duty is probably a good idea. It will be important to find a master cylinder that will work with your large wheel cylinders, as the one they sell in the kit is for a 1/2 ton.

I have gone a bit more extreme with the addition of disc brakes at all 4 corners and a hydrobooster that helps with the brakes using pressure from the power steering pump.

All depends on what you want to do with your truck,
By the way, and what is it you want to do???

Grigg

I want an "every other" daily driver. I look around and see these (possibly) rich farmers with their 40,000 - 50,000 dollar crew cab dually diesel pickups and get jealous. I know I don't have to spend forty grand on this truck to make it great. I can spend money when I get money. But brakes are probably important, even in North Dakota!!

PS Those guys don't have a hydraulic dump bed!!

PSS So, the one in chevy duty won't work, as it is for small pickups. I asked before how important a brake booster is, and since I am not going to be loading it, and since it doesn't go fast, what use is the bendix? Do I have to fix the vaccuum? I don't care about wipers or two speed rearends. I will set it in high and forget it.

Anyway, I am not a mechanic, but am treating this as a learning experience project. I bought a fix it upper house, now this is my fix it upper truck!!

Thank you for your time and advice!! It is greatly appreciated!!

Not all that different from my GMC system I'll bet. Have you had the hubs apart to look at the brakes themselves yet?
I looked around for a dual circut upgrade system, but didn't see anything that could move the quantity of fluid required to push those huge rear wheel cylenders.

As Grigg mentioned, the Hydroboost system seems to be a pretty simple upgrade. Same function as the HydroVac, but instead of running off manifold vacum, you mount a power steering pump and use that for motive pressure. Neat upgrade I think.

If you elect to keep it, your HydroVac is most likely going to need an extensive overhaul to become functional again. From what I understand there is an outfit over in your part of the country that does them, my local Napa parts house was going to send mine that way till I found a functional NOS part instead. Hit up Napa, local farm equipment shops, or heavy truck shops in the area and someone should be able to give you a better direction to go with it. HydroVacs are available new, still used in things like forklifts, but they carry an average $400 price tag.

I can get rebuilt single pot hydro-vacs at our local truck driveline shop for around $140. Last time I checked, they had a couple of several styles in stock,
Scott

ya might look at the master cyl from a 1 ton duel wheel g.m, or, 1 1/2 ton from about the mid 80's. i would scrounge the junkyards for a bigger truck with hydro vac units. there's plenty of them out there.

Scott (48bigtrucks),

Do you have a name, and/or phone number, and/or web-link for that truck driveline shop? I need a hydro-vac unit for a 1954/55 2 ton GMC and a guaranteed rebuild costs about $200 (with core).

Thanks,
Tim

lederman@siena.edu

Tim,
Most any truck parts place can has or get a functional replacement, as the same idea was still used for many years. Some of the systems actually had a dual circuit master and two separate "Hydrovac" units.

Finding an original one in new or rebuilt condition at a cheap price is somewhat harder to do.

Grigg

Grigg,

That is why I am interested in the $140 price. I have found them at higher prices and the best deal I have found is a $200 3-year guaranteed rebuild of my unit.

Tim

Tim,
Sorry about the wait. The shop I use is:

Sadler Power Train
1250 1st ST NW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52405
319-366-8238

I had a driveshaft shortened, joints replaced and balanced for a street rod I'm building (for $90) earlier this fall. While I was in there, I priced one for my 48. There's a couple of styles with prices to match but the cheaper one looked just like mine. Even if it didn't, I would make it work regardless of what it looked like,
Scott

Personally, I've decided to try to stay with the stock system until I either must have something better, or something better that is a bolt-in and free comes along. I do not have, and don't think I ever will have, the capabilities that Grigg has. I wish he would go into business making parts and doing conversions for the rest of us, but he seems to enjoy building things like that Diesel powered 1948 way too much.

I'd love to have a two circuit system, and may even go that way if I can find a master cylinder with enough capacity. In the mean time, I am going to make sure that my emergency brakes are always in perfect condition.

Scott, thanks for the contact info on Sadler Power Train. That sounds like the kind of place that needs a place in my Rolodex. Especially since I have two Hydro-Vac units that I don't trust right now, even though the trucks they are in don't run yet. ;}